Whether you’re ready to decorate for fall or not, the stores are ready for us, are you ready for them?
I thought I’d share a few hard earned tips with you BEFORE you step foot into that gloriously decorated fall section of your favorite store.
1. Choose a fall color story
Every year I like to hone in on what colors I’ll be incorporating into my fall decor. Of course, I always want the colors to work with my year round colors already happening in my home. I pick out a few fall colors to focus on so that I don’t get carried away or off track when I see a gorgeous pumpkin or pillow in a color that won’t really work in my house.
In general, there are three common fall color stories that people seem to gravitate to. You’re probably already doing this and don’t even realize.
The three common fall color stories are:
- neutrals
- yellows, oranges, reds and rusts
- fall pastels: purples, eggplant, muddy green
2. Shop your house and yard
Before I go out, I want to take stock of what I already have. You should too.
Walk around your house and see if there’s anything stacked on a shelf, folded away in a linen closet, or tucked behind something else that feels fall-ish that you could pull forward, keeping in mind your fall color story.
I look for textured items like baskets, suede hats to hang on the wall, piece of pottery and big vases that can hold dried weeds and leaves, even stacks of books in my fall color story. I’ll also pull out fur or heavily textured throws and pillow covers.
Then I walk around my yard and shop it–here in NC the weeds, grasses and flowers are already drying out, turning to interesting seed pods and they look great paired with a beautiful container. It’s not for everyone but consider if you already have stuff in your yard that will look better than what you can find in the store.
3. Make a list
It’s so simple, but making a list makes such a difference in keeping myself on track and focused.
Once you work through steps one and two, it’s easier to know what you might be missing in your house and more specifically, what exactly you are looking for.
After those steps, I usually realize that I don’t need to go and buy pretend fall foliage–I have that in my yard, but often I don’t have the right size or shape or color container or vase to hold my yard finds.
Usually when fall comes around I’m ready for lots of candlelight and fall scented candles. So I add those to my list and also consider if I have something to actually put my candles on. Often I’ll make sure I have candlesticks (that aren’t fall themed but that I can use year around) or a Home Base* to set a chunky candle on so it doesn’t look lost, and if I don’t have those things, I add ’em to my list.
Depending on what my fall color story is, and what I was able to find shopping my house, sometimes I need to add a few seasonal supplies that are supporting actors when it comes to making that color story work.
I like to bring in color in low commitment colors with things that I actually need to use anyway. So if I’m going to be adding oranges and reds for my fall color story, I might look for orange candles, a rusty red set of tea towels, pillows and throws that we can use all fall that reiterate the fall color story.
If you’re curious to see what this looks like in real life, I went to Hobby Lobby and recorded what I did and did not purchase and why. It’s all saved on an instagram highlight called “fall shopping”.
You can click here and watch it although, depending on your browser and settings you may or may not be able to hear the audio.
For the best experience, follow me on instagram and then click the highlight circle at the top called “fall shopping”.
*A Home Base is a way to group small items together so they create a pretty vignette or story. I have an entire section about creating Home Bases in Welcome Home Prep School, which you can get FREE now, when you preorder the new Welcome Home Book.
Click here to preorder your copy of Welcome Home and to claim your free bonus--you can start watching it right away and it only takes and hour to go through.
You are eligible for the free bonus class when you preorder the book from any retailer, any where, any version of the book, any time before September 15th.
Would you like a signed copy?
Click here to preorder a signed copy of Welcome Home (yep, you still get the bonuses, just go claim it here after you order).
Because we can’t do a book tour, The Nest Fest (so sad) or book store signings this year, we thought it would be fun to have a LIVE simulcasted virtual book signing.
You can watch it streamed on facebook Tuesday night September 1–there’s also a place for you to leave a question when you order and I’ll answer your question live.
Here’s to Home!
xo,
myq